Delhi, the capital of India is the third-largest city of the country and is north India's industrial hub. Old Delhi was the capital of Muslim India between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Old Delhi has many mosques, monuments and forts relating to India's Muslim history. The British built New Delhi as the imperial capital of India. It is a spacious, open city and contains many embassies and government buildings. The newer, wealthy suburbs are mostly to the south of New Delhi and an ever-growing belt of poorer suburbs and juggies (slum) stretches in all directions.

In addition to its historic interest and role as the government center, Delhi is a major travel gateway. It is one of India's busiest entrance points for overseas airlines, the hub of the north Indian travel network, and a stop on the overland route across Asia. The city of Delhi covers most of the Delhi Union Territory. It does, however, have a long and fascinating history and there are plenty of interesting things to see.

Old Delhi
Once a secure defensive wall encircled the old walled city of Shajahanabad that stands to the west of the Red Fort, only its debris exists now. To the northern end of the walled city is the Kashmiri Gate, which presented scenes of desperate fighting during the mutiny of 1857. The British erected Mutiny Memorial that stands to the west of Kashmiri Gate commemorates the soldiers who lost their lives during the rebellion. In close proximity to this monument is an Ashoka Pillar brought here by Feroz Shah Tuglaq, it is similar to the one in Feroz Shah Kotla.

Red Fort
Shahjahan started constructing the immense Red Fort in 1638 and completed it in 1648. Its red sandstone walls pull out for 2 km with height varying from 18 m on the riverside and to 33 m on the city side. Shahjahan was dethroned and detained by his son Aurangzeb in the Agra Fort and thus could never completely shift his capital from Agra to his new city Shahjahanabad.

Lal Quila, the Red Fort dates back to the peak of the Mughal reign in Delhi. The emperor's ride on elephant-back into the streets of Old Delhi displayed splendor and power of the Mughals. Aurangzeb was the first and the last great Mughal ruler to rule from here.

River Yamuna that flowed by the eastern edge of the fort filled the 10 m deep moat, which now remains empty as the river flows over 1 km to the east.

Lahore Gate
The main gate to Lal Quila bears its name because of the fact that it faces Lahore, now in Pakistan. Pt. Nehru and Indira Gandhi gave many important speeches to the masses gathered in the open place from here. Even now, the Prime Minister addresses a colossal crowd from the gate on the eve of Independence Day (15^th August).

As you enter the fort here, you find yourself in a vaulted shopping mall, the Chatta Chowk (Covered Bazaar). The shops in this mall sold elite items as silks, gold and jewellery that may perhaps appeal to the royal household. The mall was also known as Meena Bazaar, the shopping center for women of the court. On Thursdays, only women were permissible inside the gates of the fortress.

The mall leads to the Naubat Khana or Drum House, where musicians performed for the emperor. The arrival of princes and royals was announced from here. There is a dusty Indian War Memorial museum upstairs. The open courtyard ahead of the Drum House had galleries all along its either sides, but the British army removed these when they used it as their headquarter. The three-storey barrack blocks lying to the north of this courtyard also remind British presence.

Lakshmi Narayan Temple
Industrialist BD Birla raised this modern temple dedicated to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune in 1938. Situated to the west of Connaught Place, is commonly known as Birla Temple. There is a choultry in which we had stayed during our visit.

Bahai Temple
This temple shaped like a lotus flower lies just inside the Outer Ring Road, 12 km southeast of the city center and to the east of Siri. This temple situated among pools and gardens completed in 1986 and is visited by followers of any religion are free to visit the temple and pray or meditate. The Lotus shaped Bahai Temple is the seventh and most recent Bahai house of worship in the world. This temple signifies the purity and the universality of the lord and the equality of all religions.

The temple is designed to make people conscious about the beauty of life. For, life's beauty can be preserved, rising as the lotus out of swampy slime, clean and perfect - a manifestation of God.

Jama Masjid
Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in India was built by Shah Jahan in Delhi. The Masjid looks across the old markets of the city that are massed around Chandni Chowk and stretches till Red Fort. This is the area that still retains the Old World charm of markets in the Mughal times.